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Thanks, George!

by Prometheus 6
May 1, 2005 - 7:42am.
on Economics

George Will has opened the door to an important truth.

What Ails GM
By George F. Will
Sunday, May 1, 2005; Page B07

Who knew? Speculation about which welfare state will be the first to buckle under the strain of the pension and medical costs of aging populations usually focuses on European nations with declining birthrates and aging populations. Who knew the first to buckle would be General Motors, with Ford not far behind?

GM is a car and truck company -- for the 74th consecutive year, the world's largest -- and has revenue greater than Arizona's gross state product. But GM's stock price is down 45 percent from a year ago; its market capitalization is smaller than Harley-Davidson's. This is partly because GM is a welfare state.

He finally admits the way to view multinationals like GM is as nation-states.

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on May 2, 2005 - 12:51am.

Not yet, Prom but by around 2020 I expect that very wealthy multinationals will regularly field their own armies in order to operate in failing states.

This will be done either to protect itself and its employees from the conditions of anarchy, to help shore up the host-state against rebels or to protect itself from the state itself in case the kleptocratic dictatorship turns on them.

Moreover, I expect these private armies will eventually be subject to some kind of UN covenant to get them under the umbrella of international law and that UN missions, NGO activities and PMC operations will grow more synergistic in practice.

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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 2, 2005 - 1:08pm.

You know me, Mark. Always ahead of the curve.

Begs the question of why you want to operate in failed states, but... 

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Submitted by cnulan on May 2, 2005 - 3:32pm.
strategic resource extraction is easier in failed states..?
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Submitted by Prometheus 6 on May 2, 2005 - 3:42pm.
Bingo!
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